


Through Ice and Blood

by Blue_Storm (Spillz)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Bloodbending, Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-War, The northern water tribe, i love my kids, if bryke lets me make the sequel movies, please i'd do such a good job, unless the comics are canon i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2018-12-21 17:26:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11949078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spillz/pseuds/Blue_Storm
Summary: It took Team Avatar a decade of sacrifice to finally restore the world to some semblance of balance.It takes rebels on the North Pole a month to dismantle it.Katara is a warrior and a master, this should just be another battle to add to a list of victories. But the North's cracks run deeper than most, and Katara knows now that she can't heal all wounds.And she isn't the only bloodbender anymore(alt title: Katara; Taking out misogyny since 2005)





	1. Ten Years

Things were good.

When the war ended Katara hadn’t known what to expect, the childish hopeful side of her had imagined perfection, but the part of her which had grown up too quickly feared a world that could not survive in peacetime.

Both were right.

Things had been perfect at first,  prisoners were freed, troops returned home, families reunited. The south was a city again, every week brought a new street party or festival and Team Avatar was just that, a team.

But perfection fades fast, and little cracks in the peace gave way to great rifts. The world still hated the Fire Nation, and no amount of reparations could solve one hundred years of pain. Katara found herself split up from her friends as they did their best to bring unity. It was never easy and sometimes she missed the war, at least back in the old days they had each other.

But time passed and, as time often does, it healed. Not fully, there was too much damage time alone to repair, but things did get better. The colonies had almost restarted the war, but in the end, gave way to a government that allowed the people to choose for themselves. The North Pole had pushed against progress but, when their women began to drain south to freedom, they had no choice but to give in. Even the Fire Nation, who had hatred embedded in the very fabric of their society, were slowly moving back to prosperity with the stability the peace offered.

As things settled into imperfect balance Team Avatar was able to catch up on their youth. Sokka and Suki went on a real first date. Zuko left the crown to Iroh for a while and lived a life of his own for the first time. Toph rebuilt the bridges to her parents even if she wasn’t quite ready to cross them yet. They didn’t all meet up as often they used to but, on the anniversary of the comet while the rest of the world rejoiced, they camped out under the stars and pretended to be teenagers again.

It was on one of these trips, a decade after their victory, that Katara realized things were finally good. She sat around a fire with her best friends and for the first time, not one of them was in crisis. Even Aang, for all the duties the Avatar had, was experiencing a seemingly peaceful lull.

“Now Sparky,” Toph asked, passing him a flask of plum wine “When you get re-throned the party better not be as dull as last time.” Zuko smiled and took a sip

“You’ll have to take that up the Fire Sages,” He said, passing the wine to Sokka

“Seriously though, do you have a date set yet?” Suki asked, leaning back onto Sokka’s lap and taking the flask for herself.

“Not yet, but Uncle wants to be back in Ba Sing Se by winter” Ten years ago Iroh had miscalculated destiny and placed a crumbling nation on the shoulders of a teenager. It had been Aang and Katara who insisted Zuko was given a break, and a few years of freedom and several trips to the spirit world later, Zuko was ready to lead a nation. “I think it would be nice to have the ceremony during harvest.”

“Just don’t think because you're a king or whatever you’re fancier than us,” Toph warned, slapping him on the back.

“It’s hard to not be fancier than you Toph” Katara quipped taking the wine from Suki, Toph grinned and bit into an apple before replying

“I am an honoured Lady of the Beifong family, sole heir to the largest private estate in the kingdom,” She said, apple spraying from her mouth as she spoke

“You’re also gross” Aang pointed out, wiping apple off his cheek with a wince

“Never said I wasn’t Twinkle Toes”

The soft laughter of her tipsy friends was cut through by a screech from above them, they all turned to the orange sky as the unmistakable silhouette of a hawk came into view.

“Hawks aren’t native to this region,” Aang said softly

“And we aren’t on any of the communication links,” Sokka added, apprehension building on his face

“So that means…” Suki trailed off, the end of her sentence made redundant as bird dove from the sky towards them, landing on Aang’s outstretched arm with a letter secured to its leg. The seal of the Northern Water Tribe was off centred and rushed, but unmistakable.

Aang broke through the wax without hesitation, his face darkening with horror the moment it was open

“Aang?” Katara asked, she was terrified of the answer but she couldn’t breathe knowing.

“There’s been a coup, a rogue group has taken the palace and Arnook-” Aang swallowed, hardening his features into a familiar mask, the face of the Avatar “Chief Arnook is dead. We have to get to the North Pole now.”

And as Katara’s friends -no- her family, slipped into the familiar routine of crisis, she knew that once again, her hopeful side had judged the world far too prematurely.

Things still weren’t quite good.


	2. Thick Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, it is a long journey north.

Katara and Sokka had to get there first. They packed the bare minimum and were on Zuko’s war balloon within an hour of receiving the letter. They had no plan, no intel, nothing to help them once they arrived, but they had to be there.

They had said their goodbyes briefly, their friends would inform the other nations and arrive later on Appa. With luck, the rebellion would be disorganised and they would defeat it without backup. But Katara wasn’t sure that they’d be that lucky, not now. Not now that they could be entering a war with her own people.

And they were her people, she had spent enough of the last decade in the North that it wasn’t just her Grandmother’s blood that connected her to it. She had friends, enemies, a home, a job, she had a life in the city. Arnook had been pragmatic and traditional, and she had never truly been sure was on her side, but he was also a man who she could see had grieved Yue every single day. Katara prayed that at least he would see his daughter again.

The first day of their journey was spent in silence that could neither be deemed awkward nor comfortable, Zuko stoked the engine and Sokka charted the course, leaving Katara with nothing to do but worry.  She wished she had brought a sewing kit so she could at least busy her hands and stop her mind taking wild journeys towards the worst case scenarios. She braided and undid her hair. She checked and re-checked their supplies. She imagined the city melted and the people drowned over and over.

They flew straight through the first night but agreed to rest on the second. Katara didn’t rest though. The moon may not have been full, but she was stressed enough to be kept awake by its light.

She had to bend, her whole body ached every second she stayed still and the shoreline called to her. She breathed deep and pulled the water up out of the grass just as she had been taught by the last bender of her tribe.

Katara thought of Hama often, especially when she was training. As she streamed the water around her she went through the only motions of Southern Style that she had been taught; Five simple techniques that she had learned in one afternoon were all that was left of her homeland bending tradition now. Five simple techniques, and bloodbending.

Katara thought it fitting that bloodbending had been developed in the nation that craved power, she herself had sworn against using it, but almost every month she had found herself unable not to. Now, it had become so easy for her to reach into a person that she didn’t even need the moon anymore.

Her relationship with blood was more confusing that she could have ever anticipated when she was forced to control it all those years ago. The world was yet to be informed of its existence, which she claimed was to keep people from attempting it, but her motives were not as noble as she let on. As long as bloodbending remained a secret, it remained legal, as long as it was legal, she could practice, and as long as she could practise she could stay sane.

The thing about blood was that it followed her, and when the moon was full her fingers twitched of their own accord. She had tried meditating, but that only allowed her to see heartbeats while her eyes were closed. She spent one full moon isolated in the middle of the desert, but there was blood in her own body that was just as enticing. She had even tried cutting out waterbending all together, which had gone as well as the Day of Black Sun.

Katara was forced to accept bloodbending as a  part of her, and then she got even better.

She followed the channels of the pulse just like the push and pull of the water, convincing limbs to serve her rather than forcing them until she could mimic even the slightest of movements with the twitch of a finger. And that that was just in combat; when healing she was godlike. She healed month old wounds scar free, internal bleeding or bruising was nothing when she could reach into the body a perform repairs from within. She thought she might even have a chance of healing Toph’s eyes or Zuko’s scar, but only if they asked her to.

Katara shut her eyes and focused on the heartbeats around her, Zuko was sleeping lightly, but Sokka was out cold. She could feel the animals that surrounded their camp, tiny hearts that pumped so fast she couldn’t count the beats, and further off bigger ones were steady, sleeping. Katara twitched her fingers, not quite pulling on the blood around her, just getting a feeling for it. Blood vessels lit up as her bending painted a picture of every living thing in her reach.

And she saw Zuko wake up before he opened his eyes.

She let go of the blood around her but she didn’t turn to look at him. Zuko was the only one who knew what she did at night, the only one of her friends she had ever spoken to about it, the only person she had ever practised on. And he knew the pull of blood bending too well to sleep through it.

“Katara, get some rest,” he said, she turned and saw his hand outstretched, and was almost overwhelmed by the urge to bend his arm back down

“I’m fine,” She said, taking his hand in hers “Go back to sleep.”

“Only if you do,” He replied, leaning forward and pulling her to sit down beside him “Please Katara.”

“Things are always going to be this way aren’t they,” She said, slumping onto the ground “None of us are ever going to get normal lives.”

“Would you be happy with one?” Zuko asked, leaning back onto his sleeping mat while Katara considered his question. Would she be happy if she was just a normal water tribe girl? Married to someone who could provide meat and fish, cooking and gossiping, raising children, never risking or changing anything, staying on the south pole until she died with no legacy, no influence, nothing.

“I wouldn’t.” She said, but she didn’t know that she could be happy with the life she had either.


	3. Thin Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The North is colder than Katara remembers it being.

Katara never expected Zuko to so valuable to their infiltration of the North. She had lived there for years, Sokka had redesigned their watchtowers, but Zuko was the only one who had successfully broken into the city before.

“No. Way.” Sokka said, glaring into the black water “There is _absolutely_ no way you can swim into the city and survive.” He laughed as he backed away from the edge of the ice and shook his head. Zuko and Katara ignored him as they prepared for the dive. Zuko secured his Dao Swords to his back, winding the leather straps tighter that he probably had to, while Katara bent the ice around the war balloon to conceal it, her hands shaking from the cold.

“I wish we had furs,” She said to nobody in particular, parkas would just slow them down now but she had never been more envious of Zuko’s inner fire.

“Take my hand,” Zuko said, and she could feel the heat radiating from him even before she made contact  “If you both hold on to me I can regulate our body temperatures”

“With only one hand free, I can either speed up the journey with bending or I can give us an air bubble.”

“Speed up the journey, if we’re down too long we’re in danger even with Zuko’s heat” Sokka said, taking hold of Zuko’s other hand, “Plus, he’ll have a hard time swimming with his arms occupied” Katara nodded, breathing deeply and pushing aside everything she had ever been told about the ocean growing up.

“On my count,” She said as they walked to the edge of the ice, she stared into the water, calling it to her command

“Three,” the ocean obeyed her- she could the feel it standing to attention, awaiting her instruction.

“Two,” Sokka had his eyes squeezed shut and she could hear him muttering prayers to himself, the only sign that Zuko was also nervous was how tightly he was gripping her fingers

“One,” They stepped out, feet landing on nothing, the sensation of falling through the air lasting only a moment.

Before they plunged into the sea.

It was not rare for Katara to be near to so much of her element, she spent the majority of her time at the poles or by some kind of coast, what was rare was for her to be so completely submerged in it.

In every direction was water or ice, no air, no earth, and the closest thing to fire was the bender heating up her blood. To swim in this ocean was like being under the ten full moons, it was like her Sozin’s Comet, it was seductive and it was deadly.

The current she had created was guiding them along the route Zuko had taken over ten years earlier, but of course, as is the case with ice and water, things had changed. But change was not unfamiliar to Katara, and a trick she had picked up from Toph’s complaining every time she came to the poles came in handy. With a version of her friend’s seismic senses, she painted a picture of the icy caves underneath the city and pulled them towards where they had the best chance of breaking through unnoticed. Zuko’s energy was waning and she could feel the cold creeping in on them, Sokka wasn’t the strongest swimmer under normal conditions but she could feel him dragging them back now. It was up to her, at her most powerful and most vulnerable, to get them to safety.

And as white light shone through the thin film of ice above them, they broke out of the ocean and into the city.

Katara gasped for air, dragging herself out of the sea and onto the ice. Zuko followed, pulling up a barely conscious Sokka. Katara bent the water from her brother's lungs before drying them all off and pulling her now-loose hair back into a braid.

“Where are we?” Zuko asked, looking from the thin ice of the floor to the well-structured building around them.

“My house. I thinned some of the ice out in my bending room so I could get to the ocean easier.”

“Lucky for us,” Sokka muttered, his voice hoarse from the salt water.

“Wait here and keep Sokka warm while I grab us some clothes,” she told Zuko, “I’m pretty sure I still have a few of Pakku's parkas he didn’t take when he moved south.” Her Step-Grandfather had insisted she take his old home when she started staying up north, and she was glad he did; having somewhere away from the palace was more valuable than she could have ever hoped. She pulled out the chest of Pakku's things. They were a little old-fashioned, but not noticeably. Northerners didn’t like to stray from tradition and this would be the first time that worked in her favour.

“We need intel,” Sokka said, once he had weather-appropriate clothes and a hot cup of tea, “right now we know next to nothing about what we’re up against.”

“Sangok lives a few streets down, he’s usually home at this time,” Katara said, saying a silent prayer that whoever had started this coup had spared her closest ally. “Stay put and get dressed, I’ll go and talk to him”

It was not Sangok who opened the door, but his wife, her eyes wide with some mix of horror and relief as she hustled Katara inside, hugging her close

“Thank the moon you’re safe,” Nanouk said, holding onto Katara’s hands tightly as she spoke, “you never know how far these things reach.”

“Where’s Sangok?” Katara asked. At the mention of her husband, Nanouk's eyes glistened with tears and fear wracked Katara’s mind as she pulled the other girl into an embrace.

‘They could have taken him anywhere,” Nanouk was barely whispering but still her voice wobbled dangerously as Katara led her to sit, “He could be tortured or in prison or-” she choked on the last word but Katara still heard it. Sangok could be dead.

“Who’s they?” Katara asked, trying to comfort her friend and interrogate her at the same time “Sorry to be so cold, but-”

‘No, don’t be sorry, I understand.” Nanouk stood up from the table, and with a shaking hand poured two cups of tea. Passing one to Katara, she took a sip of her own and began speaking. “They call themselves The Natural Order, they believe men healing and women fighting is a betrayal of what we were created to be.”

“So, it’s back to how it was before?” Katara asked, anger brewing in the pit of her stomach.

“If only,” Nanouk grimaced, and Katara wasn’t sure whether she looked more like she was going to laugh or cry.  “Every female bender on the city records has vanished.”

“No...” Katara said, her mind swimming with the stories told by the Waterbenders she had liberated from the Fire Nation’s prisons after the war, stories that made her feel sick and dizzy to remember, stories she couldn’t allow to repeat themselves

“Don’t worry,” Nanouk reached across the table to hold Katara’s hand “I’ve got a basement, you can hide with me for as long-”

“I’m not hiding,” Katara said, standing up from the table, fists clenched as she backed towards the door.

“Katara! You… you know what they do to waterbenders in prisons." Nanouk spoke carefully, but the fear in her voice was reflected back in Katara’s mind, and strengthen her resolve.

“I am painfully aware what is done,” Katara said firmly, “And that’s exactly why I can’t hide.”


	4. New Tricks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A poorly planned mission goes as well as expected

Neither always strategic Sokka nor ever-impulsive Zuko were on board with her plan. Truthfully, Katara herself was more than a little hesitant, but people needed her, and that was all it took to bury her doubts.

And the boys weren’t about to let her go alone.

The impossibly intricate engravings on the ceiling of the throne room had been bent by hand by the first chief, displaying the story of Tiu and La’s romance in beautiful detail. Katara had spent many of her duller hours in the palace examining every inch of it, admiring the dedication, skill, and pure beauty of it all; it made her a little forlorn to smash her way through it as she dropped down into the centre of the room.

Deadly shards of ice rained down on the gathered militia, and Katara didn’t so much as a pause, leaping into the attack. Zuko followed through the ceiling and stood with his back to hers. They fell into step, watching each other's backs and balancing each other’s energies. However, it was the middle of the night and Katara was overflowing with purpose, so the balance was slightly tipped at that moment.

A wave circled the room, knocking limp bodies against the walls as Katara worked with power that only a fool would think to question. She extended an arm of water out to a man she knew. Councilman Hamaq had always been a traditionalist, an old-fashioned thorn in her side, and now he was a traitor too.

“Is it a traditional to murder the chief?” Katara asked as she dragged him across the floor by his ankle. “I’ve called you many things, but not even I thought you were capable of this.”

“Is he the leader?” Zuko asked, bringing a flaming fist just close enough to the councilman's face to make him flinch.

“Doubt it,” Katara scoffed, “you never were much of a people person, were you Councilman?”

“Gloat while you still can, Princess.” Hamaq was craning his neck to avoid Zuko’s fire, but he still found the energy to glare up at Katara.

“Since when are you a Princess?” Zuko asked, raising his eyebrows as Katara rolled her eyes.

“Since the tragic passing of our chief transferred the line of succession to the south.” A man’s voice rang through the once grand hall and on instinct Katara pressed an ice dagger into Hamaq’s throat before turning to face him.

“Congratulations, you’re _real_ royalty now.” Hamaq spat, still condescending even now.

“If you’re in any way attached to your vocal chords, I’d stop using them, Katara hissed, angling the sharp edge of her blade closer to his skin.

“Now Princess, can’t we speak with civility?” The man in the doorway was someone Katara recognised, but couldn’t quite place.

“No, we can’t,” Katara replied as she tried to think how she knew him. He wasn’t dressed like a nobleman, but he spoke like one. “I will not be be civil to the man who pluged this tribe into civil war.”

“War within this great tribe is exactly what I have been trying to avoid, Princess Katara, and you can help me do it.” He responded with a confidence that made Katara uneasy, his smile sickening in its resilience. “Please, Princess, I ask only that we might speak.” He gestured behind himself And suddenly, Katara was more inclined to listen.

From the hallway two young men marched in, dragging another along between them; Sokka. Zuko lowered his flame slowly, looking to Katara, silently asking what their next move was. She turned to Sokka, struggling against the ice around his wrists, and even as his eye began to swell and blood welled over from his split lip, his message was unmistakable.

_Don’t. Give. In._

“Let my brother go or you won’t live long enough to regret it,” Katara demanded, raising up shards of ice with her free hand to surrounding Sokka’s captors and squeezing her blade closer to Hamaq’s neck.

“Drop your weapon Princess, it is against our code to harm any woman.” His tone was still steady and polite, but he was reminding her that Sokka was not as safe as she was. She turned back to face her brother, this time regarding his wounds before his determination and remembered that she was the one who’d dragged them here without backup. And so, apologising silently, Katara released her hostage.

“An excellent start Princess Katara,” The man said, his smile growing as he held out his hand. Katara hesitated for a just moment but took it. “Now, if you would just swear on the lives of your entire family to stay loyal to our cause, I will let your brother live.”

“Not a chance,” she spat, trying to snatch her hand back, but he tightened his grip. “Joining you would be giving up what I am.”

“No Princess, it would be becoming what you  should have always been; a real woman, who uses the talent the spirits have blessed her with to cure, not to kill.” He squeezed her hand tighter and Katara felt her pulse quicken, her legs shaking beneath her.

“Who are you?” Katara was surprised when her voice wobbled. She shouldn’t have been scared- she could bend the heart out of his chest with a twitch of her finger.

“Inkai, of the Natural Order. And you are going to kneel before all these witnesses and swear on the spirit of your mother to join me, or I will have my men kill your brother.” His false kindness was gone now, and again Katara wanted to pull away, renounce him and save Sokka, but her body refused to obey her; she couldn’t even move her lips to refuse. All at once she knew why she was so scared; she was feeling something she hadn’t felt since she was barely fifteen, in a moonlit Fire Nation forest.

Inkai was bloodbending her.

Katara’s knees buckled and her head bowed without her permission. Her pulse was erratic, which meant Inkai was new to this, but it also meant that Katara was weak.

“I swear-” he forced his words out of her, tugged on her vocal chords from the inside. It tore her throat and wrecked her breathing, the words coming out hoarse and choked but perfectly clear- “-to honour Inkai and his noble-” she fought back, cutting off her sentence for a moment as she gasped for air. It was only a small victory, but at least it proved she could gain back control.

Inkai’s smile faltered for just a moment as she kept her mouth closed, but it was all she could do to keep herself breathing.

“Don't strain yourself. You’ll relent in the end either way.” He spoke with cruelty Katara was not unfamiliar with, and anger spiked within her, but it was not entirely her own. Katara hadn’t seen Yue since the war- she wasn’t quite spiritual enough for all that- but she felt the Princess beside her under the light of every full moon and now -despite crescent currently above them- she had never felt her more strongly. Katara could feel her grief and her pain, but mostly her anger. Yue was furious and through Katara’s eyes, she focused that fury on the man who’d killed her father and thrust her homeland into war, helping Katara defeat him the only way she could; by calling to her blood.

Katara twitched her pinky ever so slightly, and then bent her whole hand free. She snapped Inkai’s arm and swept his legs out from under him before his smug face even had a chance to register the defeat.  She ached all over, but she also wasn’t done yet, Zuko had gotten a hold of Sokka in the commotion but reinforcements couldn’t be far off. Katara whispered thanks to Yue and pushed herself to her feet. She grabbed Zuko’s arm and reached for the boys’ blood as well as her own, pulling all three of them off the ground and through the hole in the ceiling.

“Katara?” Sokka’s single word held a million questions that they didn’t have time for,  so she answered with a hug.

“We’ve got to go.” Zuko interrupted them as he kicked flames down at the men trying to pursue them through the roof. Katara nodded, pressing her palms into the ice below them and melting it into a wave. She carried them down to street level almost gracefully and stood for a moment, staring ahead at the city streets.

“We can’t go back to the house,” Sokka said as Zuko helped him to his feet

“I know” Katara replied, sending a  shower of icicles at the approaching rebels. She grabbed Zuko’s hand and ran to the edge of the street, leaping into the still waters of the canal and propelling them through the city’s waterways to the last place anyone would think to look;

Exactly where Inkai thought she belonged.

 


End file.
